Avoidant Personalities in Marital Interactions: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: Couples&#۳۹; personality traits play a key role in marital interactions. In cases where men have avoidant personality, due to their effective roles in marital and family relationships, cold and soulless interactions are established in the family. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of avoidant men related to marital interactions from couple and family specialists&#۳۹; view. Method: This was a qualitative study using content analysis approach. Eight family specialists were chosen through purposive sampling method. Then, the data were gathered through semi-structured interviews up to data saturation. After that, data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Results: Two categories of "self-defeating” and “other-defeating" characteristics were achieved after analyzing the data. The subcategories of self-defeating were "marital burnout”, “withdrawal”, “poor self-concept”, “social phobia”, and “ambivalence". The subcategories of other-defeating were "compulsive perfectionism”, “maladaptive self-centeredness”, “emotionally cold homes”, “change aversion”, “sociable appearance”, “sexual passivity”, “passive-aggressive”, “niggardliness”, and “talking inactivity”. Conclusion: The "self-defeating” and “other-defeating” characteristics of avoidant individuals lead them and their spouses&#۳۹; to burn out. This results to cold and unfriendly interactions, and the reduction of marital quality. Therefore, identifying these characteristics will lead to identifying new solutions to modify these traits, and to improve marital interactions and quality.

Keywords:

Avoidant personality , Marital relationship , Men